TornaJoe

The crash happened last Thursday. I was stopped at a light and a guy came up behind me on his cell phone not paying attention, never even slowed down. My car got thrust forward and my front got wedged under the high rear of a woman's Range Rover. The result was quite a bit of damage in such that I need full body work on my entire front. (I have attached a couple of pictures to this post).

The insurance for the guy who hit me is accepting 100% liability for damage to my car and the Range Rover. An appraiser representing his insurance told me today they would be giving me just over $2,500 which was estimated body damage + labor to fix it. Unfortunately, they didn't look under the hood at all and said they will leave that to the body shop. The words I was specifically told at least twice on the phone and I have in writing in email is "The shop will start their repairs based on our estimate and if they find additional damages they need to contact the appraiser and we will issue a second payment directly to the shop."

I looked up the Kelley Blue Book value of my car. It gave me about $4,600 for "trade in to dealer" and about $5,700 for "sell to a private party (those were my only two options in the process. I'm not sure which would apply here).

My fear right now is that the damage under the hood will make the job go near/over the ACV and they'll say it is totaled. But the text that I italicized above... He keeps making it sound like no matter what the damage is, they'll pay for it to be fixed, like I don't have to worry about it being totaled. This is still a concern though right? I will start getting opinions from local body shops tomorrow and into the weekend since they said my check won't arrive until 3-5 business days, so basically next week.

ezone

First make sure nothing is leaking and the coolant is still full in the radiator.



Ask around for who is the most reputable body shop with a great reputation.
There are PLENTY of crappy bodyshops to choose from everywhere, there are only a few that are worth a damn.
Seek those few.

TornaJoe

So after the accident happened, we could all see that nothing was leaking from the car. Since it was still technically a fender-bender and it was on a busy road, the law requires that if we can, we move all the cars off the road. My car was able to drive the 100 feet off the road. It was able to drive the few feet up to the tow truck, and then the few feet into my parking spot at home.

I have not opened up the hood myself. The way it is bent, I don't want to take a chance I open it and damage something I can't see. The research I've been doing is through the honda collision center website, checking out what the "ProFirst Recognized Shops" are in my area. From there I'm looking at their rep through the Better Business Bureau (and some regular reviews as well).

If anybody knows of other ways to check out for reputable body shops online, I'd be greatly appreciative to know what they are. Thanks

ezone

The collision center site is good start, but not necessarily 100%.....

Call your dealership and ask.... Again, beware

Ask on facebook and local facebook groups,

Try craigslist R&R....

but be wary of the replies you get because very few people outside of the car business actually know the difference between good quality and bad.....and many of those IN the business have goals that are not the same as yours.


Get offline, hit the pavement, talk to real people that have had to deal with bodyshop stuff.

Find your local high class car dealership (Mercedes, Porsche, Bentley, expensive car lines like that) inquire with the service department who does top-notch body and paint work.

ezone

Remember, a wrong choice can make a car absolutely worthless in an incredibly short time.

I've seen more of this than you want to know.
(I trust very few people in the business LOL)

TornaJoe

Yeah in terms of "call your dealership" and "ask on facebook", I just moved to here (near DC) from NY less than a year ago for work. The asking I've done was some coworkers and a couple of local friends I've made. I only really got one "maybe check this place out" major dealership a few miles away.

I'm getting my car towed to the closest place the Honda collision center mentioned tomorrow morning ($75 for the towing. I assume the insurance will cover that expense in the end.) to get the hood lifted up for the first time and get an estimate on it. I don't know what you mean by craiglist r&r btw.

TornaJoe

I just got the call from the body shop. With the damages they found when dismantling the car, they totaled my repairs up to $3,903.21. I just have to hope that isn't 76%+ the ACV of my car the insurance company calculated. They never told me the ACV and I'm worried to ask.

Am I allowed to call and ask for the ACV from their point of view?

Also, say it's at 80% or something. Is there any leeway? Can I contribute my own money in addition to the 75% they say they can cover max?

ezone

Those are questions you should be asking your insurance company....IMO

TornaJoe

Yeah that post was made not too long after I got off the phone with the auto body shop. After doing some googling and talking to some other folks, I found out how I can choose to keep the car, the insurance will not pay for full value but a lesser value and I could use that amount and I would have to contribute the rest to get the car fixed myself.

That being said, one of the charges the body shop mentioned was painting the right front door to blend in or something. The body shop is adding some stuff that I could probably do without right now for the purposes of the fixing the car.